Metrorail Closes Doors for 29 Hours

In the ongoing love-hate relationship Washingtonians have with Metro, chalk another one up in the hate column. Metro General Manager and CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld announced this afternoon that the entire Metrorail system would be closed tomorrow. You read that right – all six Metro lines and all 91 stations will be shut down through 5:00 a.m. Thursday, March 17.

The closure comes on the heels of a tunnel fire at the McPherson Square Station on Monday. “The investigation into yesterday’s cable fire at McPherson Square is ongoing,” Wiedefeld said. “As a preliminary matter, the conditions appear disturbingly similar to those in the L’Enfant incident of a year ago, and our focus is squarely on mitigating any risk of a fire elsewhere on the system.”

Metro will inspect all of the third-rail power cables – nearly 600 cables in total.

Locals were understandably disgruntled upon hearing the news, especially as the announcement came late Tuesday afternoon allowing employers, employees, and schools little time to pre-plan.

While Metrobus and MetroAccess will continue to operate as scheduled, Metro authorities caution that “severe crowding is expected on buses.”